Open to Public / Long form Journalism Series
Long COVID Showed Me the Bottom of American Health Care
Free Event
Wed, May 28.2025
Please join us for the fifth installment of Theater of War Productions’ new long-form journalism series at WNYC. The acclaimed actors Gary Farmer (Dead Man, Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, Smoke Signals), Irma-Estel Laguerre(Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Blue Bloods, The Undoing), Tanis Parenteau (Billions, House of Cards, Sweet Summer Pow-Wow), and Lou Diamond Phillips (La Bamba, Stand and Deliver, Prodigal Son) will perform “Long COVID Showed Me the Bottom of American Health Care,” written by Rebecca Nagle for The Atlantic, as a catalyst for a guided audience discussion about the lasting impact of long COVID on individuals and communities nationwide. Rebecca, a prominent Native American/Cherokee activist and journalist, writes movingly about her own struggle with long COVID and the challenges she, her community, and 1 in 20 Americans have faced accessing treatment and care for the disease. The event will be recorded with a live studio audience and broadcast several weeks later on WNYC.
The audience for the upcoming event will include elders, immunocompromised people, and people living with long COVID. To protect this audience, masking is encouraged. Masks will be available in the lobby and on every seat. For those who seek added protection, we strongly recommend attending on Zoom.
Co-Presented by Theater of War Productions and WNYC, with special thanks to The Atlantic.
Supported by a generous grant from the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund.
Directed and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.
This free, public, hybrid event will take place for a live studio audience, in person at WNYC and on Zoom. In-person registration does not guarantee you a seat. Please arrive by 6:30pm. If you choose to join us online, this event can be accessed on personal devices. The event Zoom link will be distributed via email and available to registered attendees starting two days prior to the event. This event will be captioned in English on Zoom. If you join the conversation, you may be included in the future radio program.
All of Theater of War Productions' events follow the same format:
- The performers will read the text.
- Community panelists will kick off the discussion with their gut responses to what resonated with them across time.
- We will open the discussion to the audience, facilitated by Bryan Doerries. To participate in the discussion online, please raise your hand using the button at the bottom center of the screen. If called upon, please accept the invitation to be promoted to speak and you will be visible and heard by the entire audience for the duration of your comments. If you would prefer not to be seen, please disable your video.
Cast Members
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Irma-Estel Laguerre
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Gary Farmer
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Tanis Parenteau
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Lou Diamond Phillips
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Domestic ViolencePatient and Impatient GriseldaTheater of War Productions and Margaret Atwood return to the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an exciting new collaboration exploring power and control, domestic violence, and family dynamics by way of two versions of the same story, one written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1348 during the bubonic plague and the other by Atwood in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bocaccio’s version, a woman named Griselda remains in an abusive and controlling relationship, showing great patience and forbearance in the face of her husband’s sadism and cruelty. In Atwood’s version, Griselda takes matters in her own hands and, with the help of her sister, turns the tables on her husband.
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Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This hybrid presentation took place in person at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Theatre and on Zoom Webinar on September 30, 2023.
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